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2025 County Report

Fires in Cattaraugus County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Cattaraugus County responded to 499 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $110K property loss.

84,930 residents FIPS 36009 98 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
499
2,450 across 5 years
Building fires
102
18 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$965K structure · $384K contents
Casualties
1 / 6
1 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 5 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

499
Total Incidents
Building fires 102 20.4%
Hazardous condition, other 84 16.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 44 8.8%
Carbon monoxide incident 41 8.2%
Power line down 34 6.8%
All other categories 194 38.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Cattaraugus County?

Nov peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 55
Feb 39
Mar 42
Apr 31
May 39
Jun 46
Jul 39
Aug 44
Sep 38
Oct 47
Nov 65
Dec 14
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Cattaraugus County

2,450 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 322
2022 534
2023 581
2024 514
2025 499
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 102 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
63%
41
Cause undetermined
15%
10
Intentional / arson
9%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
3
Under investigation
6%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $750K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Cattaraugus County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 78% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $110,000 Olean Building fires Significant
2 $110,000 PORTVILLE Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Olean Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Gowanda Building fires Significant
5 $70,000 Olean Building fires Significant
6 $60,000 Kill Buck Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
7 $50,000 Olean Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Olean Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 PORTVILLE Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 Little Valley Building fires Significant
06 How Cattaraugus County compares

Cattaraugus County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.88
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Cattaraugus County
5.88
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
1.2
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Cattaraugus County
1.2
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
11.8
Civilian fire deaths per million
Cattaraugus County
11.8
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Cattaraugus County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36009.

09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in NY

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Great Kills Blowup 2010 NPS 143
2 GK3 1996 NPS 98
3 NYIRR-FY19-RX-J Units 2019 FWS 81
4 GK06-01 2006 NPS 60
5 DRIFTFENCE 2001 NPS 58
6 north40 1997 NPS 51
7 HugeFire 1994 NPS 46
8 GOLF 2006 NPS 45
9 GRKILLS002 1999 NPS 41
10 Spring Creek 1 2014 NPS 39

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.